A Competitive Marketplace

Description: Developer of interactive television programming for
children in grades K-6.

Services: Lightspan is developing interactive, curriculum-based
software to teach reading and mathematics that can be delivered over
cable-television and other broadband networks into homes and schools.
Initial offerings will be made available on CD-ROM until
telecommunications firms upgrade their networks to handle interactive
media.

Availability: The service is being pilot-tested in select districts.
National availability is expected to be announced next month at the
annual meeting of the American Association of School
Administrators.

Availability: Teachers can access the Scholastic Network through
America Online.

Contact: For a rate schedule, call the Scholastic Network at (800)
246-2986.

Company name: Genentech Inc.

Location: South San Francisco, Calif.

Description: An on-line service for biology teachers developed and
operated by one of the nation's leading biotechnology firms.

Services: Access Excellence is designed to break down the isolation
of classroom teachers by giving them an electronic forum to share
lesson plans, discuss pedagogy, and engage in cooperative teaching. The
service also allows teachers to discuss scientific questions with
Genentech researchers.

Availability: The service has been used by a group of 105 pilot
teachers for a year. Access Excellence will be available to all America
Online subscribers next month.

Description: A education-related subsidiary of the Prodigy computer
network aimed specifically at K-12 students and teachers.

Services: Among other services, Classroom Prodigy offers students
"virtual field trips," including a recent "visit" with astronauts
aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis and an upcoming project called
"MayaQuest," in which students will help develop the itinerary for a
archaelogical expedition to ancient ruins in Central America.

Availability: Classroom Prodigy is available through dial-up modem
for Windows, Macintosh, and DOS. Multimedia features of the service are
available only to Windows and Macintosh users.

Contact: For more information, call (800) Prodigy, ext. 176.

Company name: Ingenious

Location: Englewood, Colo.

Description: A joint venture of Tele-Communications Inc. and Reuters
NewMedia, a U.S.-based division of the international news service
Reuters Holding PLC to deliver multimedia current-events programming
directly to school computers over cable-television lines.

Services: The company is poised to launch "What on Earth," a
multimedia news service, incorporating lesson plans that will be
delivered to homes and schools across the country over the TCI cable
system. Ingenious already delivers a text-based service called XChange
to 18,000 U.S. schools via cable-television lines.

Availability: What on Earth will be available in some markets on
Feb. 10 and is expected to be available nationwide by mid-year.

Contact: For more information, call (800) 7pcnews.

Company name: Public Broadcasting Service

Location: Alexandria, Va.

Description: A yearlong professional-development program for
mathematics teachers.

Services: Mathline delivers videotaped lessons, compatible with
professional standards developed by the National Council of Teachers of
Mathematics, through PBS affiliates to participating teachers.
Participants can discuss the lessons through electronic mail and media
"chat sessions" on an on-line PBS-supported service.

Availability: The service is available on a pilot basis through
local public-television stations to 500 teachers in 16 states over the
1994-95 school year. PBS expects to increase the number of teachers
enrolled in the 1995-96 school year to 2,750 in 38 states.

Contact: Local public-television stations or the Mathline staff on
the Internet at [email protected]

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